1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for attaching an implant during meniscal repair and for other soft tissue repair. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for an all-inside suture fixation device and method designed for the placement of surgical anchors for the attachment of an implant to the meniscus and for soft tissue repair. The present invention also relates to a system designed to reduce, or bring into close approximation, pieces of torn or damaged soft tissue to facilitate tissue repair and healing.
2. Description of Related Art
There are current procedures for surgical attachment of a soft tissue implant in a joint, such as an autograft, allograft, or xenograft tissue or other compatible tissues and/or devices. Such implants may be bioresorbable and/or non-resorbable, synthetic and/or non-synthetic. One example of a bioresorbable implant is the ReGen® CMI™, a collagen-based meniscus implant, the surgical attachment of which can involve techniques that are difficult to master. There is a need, therefore, for a fixation device to facilitate a faster, easier to use method for attaching an implant to a host tissue. Suture fixation devices, such as the FAST-FIX™ and RAPIDLOC™, which were designed to repair tears in meniscus tissue, have certain limitations in their delivery of anchors to attach an implant to the meniscal rim in that they may cause unnecessary destruction to the implant and require additional instruments and steps that are not integral to the device itself. The needle used to pass the anchor through an implant and through the meniscal rim punctures the implant in a manner that may lead to tearing of the implant matrix. There is a need, therefore, for a dimensionally smaller device that employs a smaller needle that delivers a less destructive anchor through an implant and the meniscus, thereby reducing the size of the puncture hole in the implant and the potential for tearing the implant matrix.
There is a need, therefore, for a fixation device that includes an integrated knot pusher to secure the delivered anchor, and optionally, also includes a suture cutter for use after one or more anchors have been secured. Techniques that require separate instruments for knot pushing and suture cutting are less efficient, and require greater skill, time, and additional manipulation at the surgical site.
Prior art devices and methods for suture fixation of an implant to soft tissue within a joint typically tear the matrix of the implant during needle insertion and/or anchor delivery. There remains a need for a device and method for fixing an implant to soft tissue that can insert anchors through the implant and host tissue with minimal destruction of the implant, in a well-controlled and easy manner. Also, there remains a need for a device and method for fixing a collagen-based meniscus implant to the host meniscal tissue, in a well-controlled and easy manner, whereby the needle and anchor insertion cause minimal to no destruction of the collagen-based meniscus implant. Also, there remains a need for a device and method for fixing a collagen-based meniscus implant to the host meniscal tissue that puts adequate tension between the anchors in a well-controlled and easy manner.